Terry Magnuson has been elected the 2018 vice president and 2019 president of the Genetics Society of America (GSA). Magnuson, UNC-Chapel Hill’s vice chancellor for research and the Sarah Graham Kenan Professor in the Department of Genetics, previously served GSA as a member of its board of directors and as both an associate and senior editor of the GSA journal GENETICS.
“It is an honor to be able to continue promoting the importance of research in this role,” Magnuson says.
An internationally recognized geneticist who studies chromatin and gene expression in various diseases, Magnuson joined the UNC School of Medicine in 2000 to create its $245 million-backed genetics and genomics program as its founding chair and director. In his current role as vice chancellor for research, he leads the campus-wide research administration that oversees nearly $1 billion in annual research activity, promotes university research through initiatives that connect academic units across campus, and manages research support offices, as well as 14 centers and institutes.
Founded in 1931, the GSA is the professional membership organization for scientific researchers and educators in the field of genetics. It has more than 5,500 individual members from all 50 states and nearly 50 countries around the world. They work at colleges and universities, government and private research institutes, medical schools, corporate and industrial settings, and other institutions.
GSA represents the collective interests of the genetics community, serving as the voice of its membership to policymakers and government leaders. Magnuson is also the GSA representative to the Science Policy Committee of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology. This committee monitors and advocates for science with congressional delegations and the public.